Dispatches from the Murky News

As Paul Mirengoff writes at Power Line, “MSM conceals Christopher Dorner’s ‘ideology:'”

I’ve long considered it ridiculous to report the political/social ravings of deranged murderers like Jared Loughner, the Tucson shooter. The salient point about these people is their derangement, not its ideological manifestation (ideology actually being too serious a word in these cases). And publicizing the ideological manifestation gives the lunatic a forum he doesn’t deserve.

I’ve also believed that the publication by journalists of the political ravings of murderers is opportunistic. That is, biased journalists seek political advantage by trying (often in the most attenuated way) to connect the ravings with right-wing thinking.

Confirmation of my latter thesis can be found in the handling of Christopher Dorner’s rambling manifesto in which he purports to explain himself. Dorner, it turns out, is a fan of President Obama, Dianne Feinstein, Colin Powell, Piers Morgan, Chris Matthews, Brian Williams, Soledad O’Brien, Wolf Blitzer, Meredith Vieira, Tavis Smiley, Anderson Cooper, and Ellen DeGeneres. Meanwhile, he reviles the NRA and Wayne LaPierre, believing that the latter’s advocacy warrants the death of his family before his eyes.

But, as Charles Cooke points out, “in the combined 3,240 words of the lead stories from the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Associated Press, there is no mention whatsoever of the political contents of Dorner’s screed.” To be sure, they all mention the manifesto, but not what’s in it, even in New York Times’ specific post about the document.

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At the Conversation, the new Breitbart.com group blog, Iowahawk spots the San Jose Mercury going to town to really bury the details:

Case in point: their story on suspected serial killer Chris Dorner (complete with handy ‘RACISM’ headline and camo-American flag photo) refers to his “14-page manifesto.” Hmm. 14 you say? I seem to recall it was 22. I wonder where those missing 8 pages vanished.

Luckily the M-N provides a link to their “transcript” of Dorner’s rambling rant.

Oddly enough there seem to be a few words missing that appear in complete version. Words like “gun control.” And “Obama.” And “Hillary,” and “Piers Morgan,” and “NRA,” and “Chris Matthews.”

In fact, the M-N seems to have disappeared an entire 8 pages worth of star-struck mash notes to media celebs and lefty politicians, threats to George Zimmerman, and death wishes to NRA officials.

As Iowahawk writes, “When it comes to airbrushing away inconveniences, the San Jose Mercury-News can teach those 1938 Soviets a thing or two.” But then, they’re not the only California paper to break out the airbrushes when need be. Keep rockin’!

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